Many of these All Whites should get another FIFA World Cup chance. For some, it’s now or never

Saturday, 27 June 2026

The All Whites face Belgium in a win-or-go-home FIFA World Cup clash in Vancouver on Friday night (Saturday afternoon NZ time).

The All Whites face world No 10 Belgium in a win-or-go-home FIFA World Cup match on Friday night in Vancouver (3pm Saturday NZ time).

A win will put world No 84 New Zealand through to the round of 32, while a draw or a loss will end their campaign.

Many of Darren Bazeley’s squad are young enough to go again in four years’ time – if not again beyond that.

But for some it’s a case of now or never – something that was laid bare at the end of training on Thursday.

All Whites centre back Finn Surman celebrates his goal against Egypt with team-mates Callum McCowatt and Chris Wood.

ANALYSIS: Many of the All Whites at the 2026 FIFA World Cup should get the chance to go again, especially now they have a straightforward qualifying path out of Oceania.

But for some, it will be a case of now or never as they face Belgium at BC Place on Friday night in Vancouver (3pm Saturday NZ time).

First and foremost, when it comes to getting that elusive first World Cup win.

All Whites midfielder Eli Just celebrates his first goal against Iran with team-mates Chris Wood, Sarpreet Singh and Tim Payne.

The All Whites have led for a total 77 minutes out of 180 so far and been level with their opponents for another 80, trailing only for the last 23 against Egypt as they succumbed to a 3-1 defeat.

But after going up a gear from their opening 2-2 draw with Iran in the first half of their second match, they will need to find another level again as they face the world’s 10th-ranked side.

Former Football Fern Jenny Bindon and her son, All White Tyler Bindon, look back on becoming the first mother and son to feature at FIFA World Cups.

The equation is simple now: Get that first World Cup win and the All Whites will also advance to the knockout stage, their stated goal for this World Cup.

If they end up falling short, one silver lining will be that the core of Darren Bazeley’s squad should be able to learn from the experience and go again.

Of the 17 All Whites to take the field far at this World Cup, 11 will still be 31 or younger in 2030.

For some of the elder statesmen in the team, this could well be the last chance, not only to chase history, but merely to play at a World Cup.

The magnitude of the moment was laid bare at the end of training on Thursday local time – the 16th full session the All Whites have had since they first came together in Florida on May 29.

As the media spoke to Ryan Thomas on one side of the pitch – “We're trying to put a full 90 minutes together, and if we do that, we're quite confident we can give them a lot of problems” – something in the middle of the field caught the eye.

Veteran centre back Tommy Smith, the team’s “cultural architect,” as Bazeley has put it, sitting on halfway, having a moment to himself.

Visibly emotional, Smith then shifted to one of the dugouts on the far side of Killarney Park, where Bazeley and assistant (and former team-mate) Simon Elliott both had a word and gave him a pat on the back.

It appeared he was reckoning with the possibility he had just completed his final All Whites training. Maybe even his final training in competitive football, full stop.

Another thought was that Smith was reacting to a devastating blow for a team-mate, which made it easy to fear the worst when New Zealand Football swapped his good friend Wood out of the pre-match press conference at short notice later on Thursday.

Thankfully that appears to have just been a case of media mismanagement, with Bazeley laughing off questions Stuff had to ask and saying: “Chris will be playing”.

The consequences of failing to beat Belgium won’t be as big for everyone as they will be for Smith.

Certainly not for those young enough and good enough to know they should get another chance.

But it will be the end of something.

A World Cup that began with a goal after just seven minutes that was quite possibly the best team goal the All Whites have ever scored.

For now, Eli Just’s opener against Iran at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles is the moment people will think of when they think of New Zealand at the 2026 World Cup.

The New Zealand midfielder reflects on what the milestone means to him, his family and the wider Sikh, Punjabi and Indian communities after making his World Cup debut in Los Angeles.

The challenge is for him or a team-mate to top it against Belgium.

The All Whites have never beaten a top-10 opponent since the FIFA rankings were introduced in 1993, managing just two draws alongside 10 losses while being outscored 33-5.

But after drawing 1-1 with Egypt and 0-0 with Iran, Belgium now look a lot less fearsome than they did on the day the draw was made back in December, when it was expected they would top group G.

Bazeley is expected to make changes to his starting lineup. Whoever the new faces are – Ben Old and Thomas look likely – they will have big roles to play with fresher legs.

The All Whites hardly needed extra incentive to produce a stunning result against Belgium – one that would eclipse Ecuador’s 2-1 win over Germany on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time) as the upset of this World Cup to date.

But after Australia’s 0-0 draw with Paraguay on Wednesday, an All Whites win and a win or a draw for Egypt against Iran at the same time in Seattle will set up a trans-Tasman showdown in Dallas in the round of 32 – second in group D v second in group G.

An all-time Australasian sporting occasion is so close, yet so far away.

First comes New Zealand v Belgium – labelled by FIFA as match 64 of 104 in the newly-expanded 48-team World Cup (but actually the 65th or 66th to kick off).

From 1998 to 2022, when there were 32 teams, match 64 was also known as the final, to the point where a 2011 documentary on the 2010 decider between Spain and the Netherlands was given that title: “Match 64”.

Now it’s just one of 72 group-stage fixtures.

But given what’s at stake, the potential the 2026 All Whites have shown, and how they will be desperate not to waste it, it should feel like a World Cup final to them.